1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel brain-specific adapter molecule, its gene, and antibodies to it.
2. Related Background Art
Nerve growth factor (NGF) is known to mainly stimulate the survival and growth of neurons of the brain and maintain the neuronal network through these activities. Neurons of the Meynert's basal ganglia, for example, integrate information from the lower regions of the cerebrum, and constantly send control signals to the cerebral cortex. These neurons receive NGF biosynthesized by neurons of the cerebral cortex, and sustain their survival (Thoenen, Trend NeuroSci., 14, 165-170, 1991, or Hatanaka, H., Cell Engineering, 9, 866-876, 1990).
Based on these findings, NGF is considered to have a high possibility for clinical use in the treatment of various neurological diseases, including recessive ones (e.g., dementia of the Alzheimer type and Parkinson's disease). Orthon et al. (J. Neural Transm. Park. Dement. Sect., 4, 79-95, 1992) have reported clinical use of NGF in patients with Alzheimer's dementia.
NGF actually transmits necessary signals into cells through NGF receptors, and studies of the pathways for the signals are under way (for example, Heumann, Current opinion in Neurobiology, 4, 668-679, 1994). Findings to be obtained through these studies are expected to serve for the direct clinical use of NGF in treating neurological diseases. In the diagnosis and treatment of cancer which abnormalities in growth factors similarly take a great part in, the achievements of researches on the signaling pathways of growth factors have reached the level of clinical application (Nikkei Biotechnology, 8-28, 2, 1995).